[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 4661-4662]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN COLOMBIA

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, as negotiations continue in Havana between 
the Colombian Government and the FARC rebels, I want to speak briefly 
about some recent information that is reason to be both encouraged and 
cautious about the future.
  Over the course of the 50-year armed conflict, antipersonnel 
landmines and other unexploded ordnance have maimed and killed 
thousands of Colombians, mostly innocent civilians living in rural 
areas. To its great credit, the Colombian Government signed the 
international treaty banning antipersonnel mines years ago, but the 
FARC continued to use them.
  Then, a little over 2 weeks ago, on March 7, the Colombian Government 
and the FARC reached an agreement for the removal and destruction of 
these indiscriminate weapons. The two sides have agreed to request the 
organization Norwegian People's Aid to lead and coordinate the 
implementation of this effort, which will prioritize areas where the 
population faces the greatest risk. The agreement provides for surveys, 
verification, and other mechanisms to ensure its effective 
implementation. This is long overdue, and I commend both sides for 
taking this step. It will not only save lives; it will help to build 
confidence for the implementation of a comprehensive peace agreement if 
one is reached.
  While officials of both Colombia and the United States like to 
portray Plan Colombia, the 5-year initiative that has stretched on for 
15 years and cost more than $9 billion in U.S. aid as an unparalleled 
success, the reality is mixed.
  On the one hand, there have been significant achievements. Many 
Colombians are safer today than a decade ago, the army and police are 
more professional, and the economy has improved significantly. The 
negotiations to achieve a comprehensive peace agreement between the 
government and the FARC, for which President Santos deserves our strong 
support, are making progress, although difficult issues, particularly 
relating to justice and accountability, remain.
  A separate but related issue that needs to be addressed is the 
Ministry of

[[Page 4662]]

Defense's proposed military justice reforms. I am among those, 
including the Department of State, who have expressed concern that 
these legislative and constitutional proposals could be interpreted to 
permit the transfer of certain human rights crimes, including false 
positives, to the military courts which lack the credibility or 
capacity to impartially investigate and adjudicate them. The Colombian 
Government needs to resolve this matter as soon as possible in a manner 
that eliminates any ambiguity about the authority of the civilian 
courts over such cases.
  Despite Plan Colombia's achievements, much of the past decade and a 
half was plagued by massacres, kidnappings, land seizures, and other 
crimes by paramilitaries, the Colombian army, and the FARC and ELN 
rebels, for which a very small fraction of the individuals responsible 
have been brought to justice. Corruption was rampant during the 
administration of President Uribe, and life today for millions of 
Colombians remains one of poverty, violence, and displacement. Human 
rights defenders, social activists, and trade unionists continue to be 
threatened and assaulted or killed with alarming frequency.
  According to a recent report of the International Red Cross, 
violations of international humanitarian law in Colombia increased by 
41 percent in 2014. There were 814 alleged breaches of international 
humanitarian law, an increase of 258 from 2013.
  During the past year, Human Rights Watch released reports documenting 
numerous new cases of disappearances, killings, sexual violence, and 
other atrocities by the FARC and successor groups to paramilitaries in 
the mostly Afro-Colombian areas of Tumaco and Buenaventura. In these 
two municipalities on the Pacific coast, more than 28,000 residents 
were reportedly forced to abandon their homes due to violence in 2014 
alone, according to government data.
  These findings illustrate that despite progress in the peace talks 
they have yet to bring tangible improvements in the lives of many 
Colombians who continue to suffer horrific abuses with impunity. The 
landmine agreement has the potential to help change that. And, of 
course, a peace agreement that results in the disarmament of the FARC 
and their renunciation of drug trafficking would be a historic 
achievement of immense benefit to the Colombian people. But while it 
would signify an end to the armed conflict it would only be the 
starting point for rebuilding the country, especially rural communities 
that suffered the worst of the violence and displacement. That is a 
process which will take years.
  It is widely understood that any peace agreement between two warring 
parties, neither of which can win on the battlefield, requires 
compromise. At the same time, lasting peace will require access to 
justice, particularly for victims of the worst crimes. Impunity is at 
the root of the Colombian conflict: few criminal investigations result 
in convictions, and human rights or other political crimes of violence 
and corruption are rarely prosecuted.
  If a peace agreement is reached I believe the United States should 
strongly support it--with an emphasis on strengthening Colombia's weak 
judicial institutions, including holding accountable those responsible 
for war crimes. No democracy can survive without transparent, 
competent, independent judicial institutions that protect the rule of 
law and deliver justice when basic rights are violated. If Colombia has 
the trained investigators, prosecutors, judges and most importantly, 
the political will to end impunity, the country will finally be able to 
leave the worst of its past behind.

                          ____________________